This invention relates to a personal comfort device and more particularly, to an improved footstool having a heating element and a vibrating element that adapts for use in a plurality of configurations.
As well known to the general public, a variety of electrical and electromechanical heating and vibrating elements, or mechanisms, have been developed commercially to aid in the medical treatment of injured back muscles and to provide general relief for other weakened or aching muscles. In the past, such elements have been incorporated into personal comfort devices such as pads known colloquially as "heating pads", and into hospital beds and lounging chairs. While such devices have been useful, each has its limitations. For example, the bed and chair are incapable of localized use, as on the soles of the feet or on the upper or lower back alone. Moreover, the heating pad, when used in other than the prone position, lacks sufficient internal rigidity to provide the support necessary for weakened back muscles. In sum, little or no consideration has been given in the past to providing one personal comfort device which adapts to all the positions and configurations in which such a device is useful.